Epic announces the first three recipients of the Unreal Dev Grants

Epic’s announced the first three recipients of its Unreal Dev Grants programme. The $5 million development fund exists to provide financial support to innovative projects developed using Unreal Engine 4. It’s a no strings attached deal, too. The creators hold onto their IP, publish however they want, and don’t have any obligations to Epic.

The first recipients were announced today at GDC.

Koola, a french artist, received a grant for $18,000. He’s been creating “hyper realistic” outdoor scenes and architectural visualisations using Unreal Engine 4, as well as explaining the process for the benefit of other developers.

Take a gander at one of his architectural visualisation demos.

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Audio engineer Jake Kaufman and artist and voice actor Jessie Seely received $18,000 for Nuren: The New Renaissance. It’s a VR “audio visual experience”, a virtual rock opera that the pair are trying to fund on Kickstarter.

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Developer Mike Blackney received $15,000 for his “Grand Theft Cthulhu” horror game, Dead Static Drive. He’s developing the game mostly on his own, and you can watch one of his dev diaries below.